Starling scaring device



y 1944- J. c. PFEIFFER' 2,350,137

STARLING SCARING DEVICE Filed Apr i1 12, 1940 J05EPH (I, pff/FFEQ,

[ NVENTGQ,

yauiwam Patented May 30, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,350,187STARLING SCARING DEVICE Joseph C. Pfeifler, Louisville, Ky. ApplicationApril 12, 1940, Serial No. 329,311

2 Claims.

. ing drawing wherein an embodiment of the invention is shown as appliedto the facade of a building.

A building facade I, as illustrated in the drawing, has one or morewindows 2 and ledges 3. Ordinarily, the starlings will roost upon thesills of the window 2, the ledges 3 and other protuberances on the frontof the building. I have dis-- covered that the starlings may beeflectively frightened away from a substantial section of the facadesiinply by securing one end of a flexible hose 4 at the facade andpassing air through the hose under suiilcient pressure to thrash thehose and, at the same time, emit a staccato noise. A series of suchhoses, say 6 to 10 inches long. spaced from 10 to 15 feet apart over theupper portion of the facade will ordinarily be suflicient to keeptheentire facade clear of starlings.

In carrying out the invention, a desired number of hoses I should bedistributed over the facade of the buildingand connected throughair-supply pipes to a blower, compressor or other air-supply means 6.AIOperation of the device should be instituted around sundown andcontinued until the starlings have roosted for the night. Ordinarily,this will require the device to be operated from two to five hours. Ihave found, however, that after the device has been so operated for amonth, more or less, the starlings will avoid the building entirely andmake no attempt to roost upon it. Nevertheless, I prefer to continue theoperation of the device more or less indefinitely although the dailyoperating time may be reduced to a In operating the device, it is notnecessary to thrash the hose violently or otherwise so operate it as toproduce a loud staccato noise. It is effective when the air flow throughthe hose is suflicient only to produce a soft or dull succession ofreports. It will be appreciated that the invention as illustratedessentially involves the use 1 of a movable arm, coupled with means forswinging it and means for making an accompanying noise. Consequently, itmay readily be embodied as for example in the form of an arm which isactuated electrically by any of a variety of wellknown electricalmechanisms which are capable of making an accompanying noise.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1'. A mechanism for scaring starlings and the like from the facadesurfaces of building structures and the like comprising: a flexible hosehav- I ing an air inlet adjacent one end and an air outlet adjacent itsopposite end and providing an air passage therebetween; means securingthe air inlet end portion of the hose to hold it at a point adjacent thesurface to be protected, the air outlet end portion being free to;thrash over the surface to be protected; and means for creating a flowof air through the hose with suflicient force to cause the hose tothrash about and emit a staccato noise.

2. A mechanism for scaring starlings and the like from the facadesurfaces of building structures and the like comprising: an air supplypipe fixedly mounted on the structure and having an air outlet openingadjacent the surface to be protected; a flexible hose' having an airinlet-adjacent oneend and an air outlet adjacent its opposite end andproviding an air passage therebetween; means anchoring the air inlet endof the hose to the pipe and connecting the hose air inlet to the pipeair outlet, the air outlet end portion of the hose being free so thatthe hose may thrash over the surface to be protected and about itsanchorage; and means for creating a flow of air'through the hose withsufficient force to cause the hose to thrash about and emit a staccatonoise.

JOSEPH C. PFEIFFER.

